Bear crawling up the drive!

Dominoes.

Still a Pretty Good Day!

I was blessed to hear a Proverbs 31 devotional on the radio the other day... and the message has resounded in my heart and mind EVERY day since. I hope you are encouraged to read it and remember {as I have had to do!} that even if my son urinates in the garage, or the van doesn't get completely cleaned out, or the dog eats lunch off the table, or the wasps' nest is brought inside, or the sandbox lid gets broken, or mud gets tracked in the house, or {fill in the blank} it has still been a pretty good day!

Super Smoothies!

The kids ALL love to make smoothies! The big boys really enjoy helping put all the goodies in the blender. I use WHATEVER fresh or frozen fruit and either fresh or frozen spinach, yogurt, a little milk, and a drizzle of honey. I generally do not add any ice since a least some of the ingredients are frozen. Instead of tossing out fruits or veggies that are about to spoil in the fridge, I put them in the the freezer for future use in our concoctions. Enjoy!

Wyatt at 23 months.

Wyatt has such a fun personality! He has started singing his ABCs and does really well with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He LOVES to read ABC books and play with Lulu, the letter-spinning spider. When he wants to look at letters he says, "c, cat." I was singing "Jesus loves me" to him before bedtime the other night and when I was done he said, "more Jesus." So sweet! Wyatt can be found wherever his brothers and sister are. He has unofficially turned two -- most days he can be heard saying, "my seat," "my turn," "my bouncy ball," "my book." This boy is a climber! He can now get on my bathroom counter using only the lip of the drawer for footing. Tommy can throw a ball to him and he will hit it! He has also thrown the ball up in the air himself with one hand and hit it with the bat in the other. Anything round is a BALL! He says Ranger is a "bad dog," asks for "vitamin C" multiple times a day, and likes to "say hi Daddy" {call Tommy on the phone}. He drinks from a real glass. He is almost fully potty trained -- he is wearing pull ups when we leave the house but asks to go potty when we're out and only occasionally has an accident! When we're at home he will climb up onto the potty without a step stool or will use his toddler frog potty and dump it into the big potty all by himself! He even flushes and will then come tell me that he went potty. When it is time to get dressed, he brings me clothes from his dresser and will find his shoes to put on. When Tommy calls his name, he says "sir?" and when I ask him to stop doing ___ he says "yes, m'am." He tells knock knock jokes, has a fake laugh {Haa Haa Haa}, copies Uncle Andy and says, "bbbb bye bye," dances the hokey pokey, LOVES to help Audrey and Mom cook in their kitchens, lines Hot Wheels up, stacks blocks to make buildings, and runs just about everywhere he goes. He has started saying things are "yucky," "hot hot hot," and "mean" {we're working on removing the latter from his vocabulary!} We LOVE this little fella more and more each day!

This House.

Excuse This House

Some houses try to hide the fact
That children shelter there.
Ours boasts of it quite openly,
The signs are every where.

For smears are on the windows,
Little smudges on the doors;
I should apologize I guess
For toys strewn on the floor.

But I sat down with the children
And we played and laughed and read,
And if the floor doesn't shine,
Their eyes will shine instead.

For when at times I'm forced to
Choose the one job or the other,
I want to be a housewife . . .
But first I'll be a mother.

My scientists!

Mom, fire!

I sent the boys outside with magnifying glasses, and they soon discovered they could burn a hole in a dry leaf!

Making a bouncy ball.

Science.

Learning about elasticity.

the finished product!

Wyatt working on learning his letters.

I came in to find Wyatt matching these ALL BY HIMSELF!

Celebration of Literacy.

My Mother-in-law, Sister-in-law and myself at a luncheon with Former First Lady Barbara Bush.

Right and wrong.

"You were right to get Wyatt some markers, but you got the wrong ones." -- Audrey {while we were coloring outside.}

Missed.

Dade is at a party. He's been away from us for just over an hour and a half... I can't count how many times Luke has said he misses Dade.

They ALL love wedgits!

Mustache bash

Luke is ready for KIDZ LIFE!

Fat souls

Are better than clean floors! Wyatt helping me make biscuits!

Just relax, Wyatt.

This post is to brag on my wonderful husband... This is his sign for his commercial construction company at his current duplex project. If you look closely, you can see the cross in the red portion of the tower. I am so grateful for a husband who strives to provide for us and who desires to give what God has graciously given.

Turtleman.

Live Action!

Front tooth #2 gone!

Luke's second front tooth got knocked out while rough-housing with Dade and now he resembles Turtleman!

We went to the neighborhood where Tommy is in the process of building two homes. The boys love to climb in the frames... makes me nervous!

She was excited about going to the lots but sleep overtook her on the twenty-minute drive!

Climbing trees!

Throwing mud rocks into a mud puddle to try and splash each other.

Just like her mom... it's hard to wake up from a good nap!

Fire starter.

Mubleck.

The kids dug a hole in the sandy dirt outside then filled it with water. It already had the consistency of oobleck, so we added some cornstarch in to see what would happen.

Sweet friend.

Dade and Luke stayed the night at their friend's house. When we were leaving, Audrey was sad she wasn't staying and wanted to see if her friend could come stay with her... they had a great time playing kitchen, dancing to music and fixing each other's hair.

Park time.

A perfect day for sidewalk chalk and the water hose!

Climbing.